Latest in Region Highlight
Latest in Region
Breaking: Blast heard in south Beirut
No immediate details on the cause of the blast
Ethiopian Airlines hijacker was co-pilot: police
The man, born in 1983 and an Ethiopian citizen, had contacted Geneva Airport and said “he needed to land to fill the tank. After that he announced the hijacking,” Grandjean said.
Syria talks stalemate brings threat of worsening war: analysts
The timing of Idriss’s replacement by another senior military commander is significant, with analysts predicting that the most likely outcome of the peace talks stalemate will be a renewed focus by both sides on military operations.
Most rebels have left Syria’s Yarmuk: Palestinian official
Yarmuk camp was once home to some 150,000 Palestinians, as well as Syrian residents.
Powerful Iraqi Shi’a cleric Sadr quits politics
AFP – Powerful Shi’a cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, leader of a major political movement and a key figure in post-Saddam Iraq, has announced his exit from politics two months before elections. The decision, if confirmed as permanent, brings to a close a political career that began with his fierce opposition to the US military presence in …
Four killed by armed group: Tunisia ministry
Tunisia has been wracked by violence blamed on jihadist groups since the January 2011 Arab Spring revolution that ousted long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Collecting the dead in South Sudan’s Bor
A stand-off between the country’s leader Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar quickly spread to Bor, where old ethnic, political and historical tensions were revived and countless people were killed.
Lebanon forms consensus govt after 10-month stalemate
Hezbollah is accused of participating in the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former premier Rafiq Hariri, and five of its members are on trial in absentia before a special court in The Hague.
Libya marks anniversary of Gaddafi uprising, riven by chaos
Monday marks the start of the 17 February Revolution, when angry residents of the eastern city of Benghazi took to the streets to protest against Gaddafi’s four-decade rule.
Obama vows to put more pressure on Assad regime
At the meeting Obama pledged $1bn in loan guarantees to Jordan, as well as a renewal of a five-year memorandum of understanding.
Syria foes meet for final talks as peace process flounders
The United Nations warned Friday that more than 2,700 refugees had poured across the Lebanese border as the Syrian army carries out an offensive in the Qalamun mountains and heads towards the opposition-held town of Yabrud.
Saudi Valentines defy the love police
Florist Hussein came up with a simple solution to a ban on red tokens of love: he filled his window with white roses, orange irises and violet hydrangeas
Libya denies rumours of impending coup
In a video posted on the Internet, Khalifa Haftar announced an “initiative” looking to the interim authorities being suspended
British teacher ‘kidnapped in Yemen’
AFP – Gunmen have abducted a British teacher in Sanaa, in the second kidnapping this month of a British expat in violence-hit Yemen, a security official said Thursday. The unidentified gunmen captured the teacher on Wednesday evening as he returned from work, the official said. A Western diplomat confirmed the kidnapping. The teacher, whose identity …
UN-OPCW urges Syria to speed up destruction of chemical arms
Syria, Kaag said, was continuing to display “constructive cooperation” despite missing several deadlines to ship chemical material out of the country.
Yemen to become six-region federation
Yemen’s parties had been divided on whether to split the future federation into two or six regions.
Israeli PM meets top ministers over boycott threat: reports
The meeting comes less than a fortnight after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Israel was facing a growing campaign of delegitimisation which could worsen if peace talks with the Palestinians collapsed.
Attack raises fears about evacuation from Syria’s Homs
Another 300 people were killed as battles raged across Syria on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the latest deaths in a nearly three-year conflict that has killed 136,000 people and displaced millions.
Gazans endure power blackouts with dark humour
Hemmed in by Israeli and Egyptian blockades, Gaza is plagued by long and frequent power blackouts, prompting some residents to try to lighten the mood with dark humour.
Niger calls for international intervention in Libya
Niger, an impoverished but mineral-rich former French colony which adjoins southern Libya, has had to contend with numerous Islamist attacks and kidnappings on its own soil, some of which have threatened the security of its uranium production.
Palestinians flee hunger and hell of besieged Syria camp
The camp began as a home for Palestinian refugees in the 1950s, but Yarmuk evolved over the decades into a bustling residential and commercial district, home to some 150,000 Palestinians as well as Syrians.
Blast at school in Libya’s Benghazi wounds 6 children
AFP – A blast rocked a primary school in Libya’s restive second city Benghazi during playtime on Wednesday, wounding six children, security and medical officials said. The blast was caused by an explosive device thrown over the exterior wall of the school as the children were playing, said Fadia al-Barghathi, spokeswoman for Benghazi’s Al-Jala hospital. …
Baghdad bombs, one near foreign ministry, kill 24
The attacks, which wounded dozens more, come as security forces battle militants in the western Anbar province, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a powerful jihadist group that has exploited the chaos in neighbouring Syria.
In Pictures: African asylum seekers protest in Tel Aviv
AFP – The migrants, primarily from Eritrea and Sudan, are protesting to call for help in the face of Israel’s refusal to grant them refugee status. Last month, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned that Israel could be in breach of international law with new legislation that allows for the potentially indefinite detention of asylum-seekers. …
Yemen hostage mediators lose contact with Al-Qaeda
Kidnappers are demanding $3m (€2.2m) for his release before Saturday’s deadline.
Syria opposition chief presses Russia on Assad
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s team and the opposition made no progress on local ceasefires or permission for humanitarian corridors to some of the country’s more devastated cities such as Homs.
UAE says ‘no disputes’ with Qatar after envoy summons
Abu Dhabi summoned Doha’s envoy on Sunday to protest against “insults” to the UAE made by Egypt-born cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar.
Israeli ministers harangue Kerry over boycott remark
Washington’s top diplomat also referred to “talk of boycotts” of Israel.
Baghdad attacks kill 16 as Iraq presses Anbar assault
The assassinations in particular harken back to Iraq’s brutal Sunni-Shi’a sectarian war which raged from 2006 to 2007, when corpses were often found abandoned on the streets, with the victims’ bodies bearing signs of torture.
Al-Qaeda disavows ISIL in Syria
Rebels have accused ISIL of seeking to consolidate power rather than fighting the regime, and even suggested the group was serving the regime’s interests.